Tag Archives: Western Australia

Compass Group wins ~A$71M contract from Albemarle for Kemerton Expansion Project

Albemarle has awarded a major contract to Compass Group Remote Hospitality Services to operate and maintain the Paris Grove workforce accommodation precinct in Australind, near Bunbury in Western Australia.

The A$140 million ($90 million) Paris Grove village is now under construction and will provide accommodation during rosters for up to 800 people working on the A$2 billion expansion of Albemarle’s nearby Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Processing Plant.

The contract to operate and maintain Paris Grove is valued at just under A$71 million and spans three years with extension provisions. Compass Group’s ESS Support Services Worldwide arm will be responsible for the contract and is highly experienced in operating modern workforce accommodation in a variety of settings in Western Australia and across Australia.

Around 70 people will be employed by the company on a rolling roster with the company seeking to employ as many local people as possible.

Albemarle’s Paris Grove Operations Manager, Grant Barrow, said the village was being developed as a sustainable, long term accommodation precinct specifically to support Kemerton plant expansion.

“Paris Grove will be a modern, high-quality and purpose-built village accommodating around 800 rostered workers and taking pressure off existing rentals and short term accommodation in the South West,” he said.

“Albemarle is setting out to positively change the approach to village management and operations and Compass Group will help us implement a healthy and safe culture for our workers – in line with recommendations of the recent WA Government resource sector inquiry.”

The village design is landscape-led and is being built by Grounded Construction Group. Compass Group’s ESS will roll out and maintain all onsite catering, accommodation, cleaning, security, health and lifestyle programs, grounds services and facilities management.

“A local leading interior designer has also been working on the village dining area to be a harmonious backdrop to what will be diverse and rotating high quality menu, prepared in a state-of-the-art commercial grade kitchen,” Barrow said.

“Recreation facilities and personalised and group health and wellbeing programs, including fitness activities will be very important and Albemarle is working closely with Compass Group on a range of measures to support psychosocial health at Paris Grove.”

The Compass Group contract award follows the recent Albemarle announcement of two other major Kemerton expansion contracts including a A$330 million contract to UGL, part of the CIMIC Group, and a A$200 million-plus contract to Monadelphous.

Albemarle’s Kemerton Expansion Project will see construction of processing trains three and four with plant capacity set to double at full capacity to up to 100,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide.

Albemarle’s VP, Capital Projects Australia, Josh Rowan said the contracts were among the largest ever awarded by Albemarle and that the Compass Group/ESS Contract was the first workforce accommodation contract ever awarded by the company in Australia.

“We are Australia’s largest producer and manufacturer of lithium and our Kemerton plant is about to get a whole lot bigger,” Rowan said. “Construction of trains 3 and 4 is set to create over 1000 new jobs across all of our major contractors and Albemarle has recently launched an intensive three-month recruitment drive in support of our major Kemerton contractors.

“We are particularly pleased that Compass Group is seeking to employ as many local people as possible to run and manage Paris Grove with the variety and flexibility of roles set to be very attractive to local job seekers.”

IMDEX joins Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct, plans for Dirt Lab

IMDEX says it has become a major industry partner of the new Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct in Perth, Western Australia.

The partnership with the state government-owned precinct will allow IMDEX to accelerate testing and demonstration of technology including its BLAST DOG™ at a site close to its Balcatta headquarters

IMDEX BLAST DOG is a commodity-agnostic blasthole sensing and physical measurement technology that provides near real-time blasthole physicals and orebody knowledge, and a 3D view into the bench.

The 51 ha automation and robotics precinct 40 km north of the Perth Central Business District was purpose-built for testing, research and development, and training in autonomous, remote operations, and robotic systems and equipment.

Launched in October 2021, the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct currently provides extensive test beds, freehold lots and an onsite office for industry use. It is being developed into a facility for innovation, with a state-of-the-art Common User Facility operation building, research and development facilities such as laboratories and design co-labs, and advanced test beds with multiple areas and roadways for physical testing.

IMDEX has signed on as an industry partner for an initial period of two years and will build and maintain a common user drill pad as a critical part of a 22 ha Dirt Lab, which will enable various commercial and collaborative opportunities as an innovation mine test and development site.

IMDEX Chief Executive Officer, Paul House (pictured on the right with IMDEX Chief Strategy Officer, Michelle Carey (centre) and Stuart Nahajski, DevelopmentWA General Manager Regional (left)), said having a purpose-built, robotics research and development site so close to the company’s headquarters was ideal.

“While we operate globally and have an unrivalled presence on all major mining operations, Western Australia is home to some of the world’s major mining companies so having the opportunity to develop and promote our technology locally is an additional benefit,” House said.

“BLAST DOG won’t be the only technology we will test at the site. We have plans for testing a range of IMDEX tools and technology developed by our research and development team.”

IMDEX has recently signed deals with two tier-one mining companies for further commercial testing of BLAST DOG.

The company achieved its first commercial contract with BLAST DOG in August 2022, at Iron Bridge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with the agreement providing for the staged use of up to three units together with associated products, software, data analysis, reporting and support.

Six commercial prototype trials were planned for the 2023 financial year under the first phase of BLAST DOG development.

BLAST DOG has been developed in collaboration with Universal Field Robots and IMDEX industry partners Teck Resources and Anglo American.

WesTrac to deploy Palantir Technologies’ Foundry across Component Rebuild Centres, Inventory Management teams

Palantir Technologies and WesTrac, one of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealers and leading provider of heavy mobile equipment and aftermarket services to the Australian mining and construction sectors, have announced a multi-year enterprise expansion of their partnership, which first began in 2021, to deploy Foundry across core operations.

The expanded partnership will initially focus on deploying Foundry across WesTrac’s Component Rebuild Centres and to Inventory Management teams, to drive greater overall efficiency and customer delivery for WesTrac, Palantir says.

Palantir’s Foundry operating system is being used to help increase throughput of WesTrac’s Component Rebuild Centre at its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia, and is being expanded to the Company’s Tomago facility, in New South Wales. Foundry is used daily by workshop planners and supervisors to improve task scheduling decisions, manage upcoming part constraints, and increase labour efficiency through proactive alerting on task performance and schedule adherence. Foundry will also be leveraged by WesTrac’s Inventory Management teams to identify deficits in available inventory that may block workshop progress, enabling the team to make more proactive ordering decisions, Palantir says.

Jarvas Croome, CEO at WesTrac, said: “In the current technology-rich era, WesTrac has a strong focus on incorporating enhanced data-driven decisions across our business as we look to drive our own digital transformation and improve delivery of Cat® products in Australia. Implementing Foundry has delivered a strong initial return on investment, and we anticipate the five-year expansion of our partnership with Palantir will enhance return on investment and enable more data-driven decisions. The Foundry platform has been a leading feature within WesTrac, with rapid uptake, high usability and widespread acceptance by users across the business.

“As we expand the scope of Foundry, including to new applications like artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, we expect uptake of Palantir’s products to increase. WesTrac is committed to providing world-class products and services to our customers by ensuring operations are supported by the latest technology, which is why we are pleased be extending our partnership with Palantir.”

Ashwin Rajan, Head of Commercial for Australia at Palantir, said Foundry is now serving as the digital twin for WesTrac’s core operations, delivering tangible business benefits.

“The suite of software in Foundry help front-line Component Rebuild Centre & Inventory Teams improve overall efficiency and customer delivery,” he said. “For example, in just the last six months, Foundry has identified a significant number of constrained parts blocking work order progress – and suggested remediation strategies to ensure continued operations. WesTrac predicts these outcomes alongside improvements in inventory management will drive overall throughput up by at least 5% over the next five years, with additional benefits expected in other areas such as reduced working capital requirements and improved time to invoice.”

In addition to Foundry, WesTrac plans to explore AI solutions leveraging a suite of software including Palantir’s new Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). AIP, Palantir says, can allow WesTrac to better connect sales to operations, by enabling sales functions to ask questions of workshop operations, to inform sales strategy and improve the accuracy of information provided to customers.

Fortescue kicks off battery-electric truck testing in the Pilbara

Fortescue Metals Group has started testing a battery-electric truck at its operations in the Pilbara of Western Australia as part of its latest decarbonisation efforts.

Having floated the idea of a battery-electric haul truck some three years ago – and started a physical build process 12 months ago – the company is now testing a battery-electric converted MT4400 AC truck at its Christmas Creek iron ore operations, Fortescue confirmed last week.

WAE and Fortescue Future Industries, part of Fortescue’s newly branded Fortescue Energy division, have been spearheading developments on this truck, referred to as the “Roadrunner” (pictured). The 221-t payload vehicle is fitted with a 1.4 MWh battery from WAE. It has already been run through more than 20 hours of dynamic testing that has included, among other things, downhill recharging scenarios, Fortescue said last week.

The vehicle is thought to be the largest battery-electric haul truck running in Pilbara operating conditions.

The converted MT4400 AC is expected to be joined by a 3 MW charger prototype – developed by WAE and a third party – by the end of the year. “This will help us to understand and develop haul truck duty and charging cycles,” Mark Hutchinson, CEO of Fortescue Future Industries, said in a conference call last week.

In June, Fortescue, through WAE, announced the expansion of its battery and electric powertrain production operations in the UK with an additional state-of-the-art facility in Oxfordshire. The facility, which will open in 2024, will focus on the production of a wide range of zero emission products for the off-road sector, including trucks and trains.

Alongside these battery-electric developments, Fortescue said it will have its first “green hydrogen fuel cell haul truck” on site for similar testing next year. This truck is being delivered through the company’s partnership with Liebherr and will be based off a 240-t-payload T 264 haul truck.

In June 2022, Fortescue announced a partnership with Liebherr for the development and supply of green mining haul trucks for integration with the “zero emissions power system” technologies being developed by FFI and WAE. Under the partnership, Fortescue agreed to purchase a fleet of 120 haul trucks from Liebherr; a commitment that represents approximately 45% of the current haul truck fleet at Fortescue’s operations.

In answer to an analyst question last week, Christiaan Heyning, FFI’s Head of Decarbonisation, said: “We are…putting both battery-electric trucks as well as a fuel cell electric trucks on-site this calendar year to do extended testing to figure out the ramp-up efficiency of both battery-electric and fuel cell. We will use those insights to make the final decisions about what our fleet will be.

“As you appreciate, it’s really dependent on whole routes and, therefore, we need to do more testing before we can make up our mind.”

A 100-day “sprint” FFI project focused on converting a legacy 221-t class Terex Unit Rig MT4400 AC electric drive, diesel-powered haul truck to run on a ‘green’ hydrogen 180 kW fuel cell system and a 300 kW/h battery was previously completed and run at Fortescue’s Hazelmere facility in Western Australia.

Hexagon, MinRes to ‘transform mining’ with autonomous road train developments

Hexagon AB has signed a major agreement with diversified mining company Mineral Resources (MinRes) to provide an autonomous haulage solution for a fleet of road trains to run at the Onslow iron ore project in Western Australia, which, the companies say, will transform safety, productivity and sustainability in the region.

The world-first, fully autonomous road trains are a full-site, truck-agnostic solution, leveraging positioning, onboard autonomy and by-wire, fleet management, collision avoidance, world perception and autonomous mission management solutions from Hexagon.

These solutions will be added to Kenworth 330 t road trains (coming with three trailers each), which will run autonomously on MinRes’ 150 km private haul road.

This agreement builds on two major milestones the companies achieved over the last two years in anticipation of rolling out the fully autonomous road trains at Onslow.

In late 2021, Hexagon and MinRes signed an agreement to develop an autonomous road train solution as part of a plan to unlock “stranded tonnes” in the Pilbara of Western Australia. Then, in April 2022, the companies announced a world-first had been achieved with the successful demonstration of a triple-trailer, automated road train platoon in the Yilgarn of Western Australia – each autonomous road train, in this case, hauling 300 t of iron ore.

Andrew Crose, Vice President, Autonomous Mining, Hexagon’s Mining division, told IM that the speed of adoption of this automated solution – from agreement to demonstration, to planned commercial deployment, in a little over two years – was aided by the abilities and efforts of a global team of Hexagon experts.

“Hexagon has staffed a large multi-national team across the Hexagon technologies stack across Perth (Australia), United States, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada to deliver this technology,” he said.

The companies also worked within the framework of the established Code of Practice for Safe Mobile Autonomous Mining in Western Australia to gain the necessary regulatory approvals to move the project forward at such a pace.

Mike Grey, Chief Executive, MinRes, said in the press release: “Automation will remove the risk of driver fatigue, lower operating costs and reduce fuel use and emissions. There’s enormous potential for these vehicles to transform mining across the world.”

Commissioning of the autonomous road trains is expected to fall in line with the go-live date for Onslow – currently estimated for the first half of 2024.

The road trains form an important part of the 35 Mt/y project, ensuring this tonnage is moved from the mine to the Port of Ashburton.

MinRes has said previously that the autonomous road train technology will initially be adopted for its own mining operations, with a view to offering the solution to its Tier 1 customer base as it grows its Mining Services division.

Hexagon recently expanded its autonomy offering with the acquisition of HARD-LINE; a deal that, Nick Hare, President, Hexagon’s Mining division, says allows the company to provide a scalable automation platform that all mining companies can use and grow with.

Fortescue celebrates first shipment of Iron Bridge magnetite

Fortescue’s first shipment from its newly built, majority-owned Iron Bridge operations, in Western Australia, will soon be on its way to Vietnam marking the first time the company has exported a high-grade magnetite product.

It follows first production earlier this year, which saw the plant surpass expectations with a first run grade of greater than 67% Fe.

Iron Bridge, Fortescue says, is a demonstration of the company’s pioneering innovation. It signifies the first time the company has produced a wet concentrate product, which is transported to Port Hedland through a 135 km specialist slurry pipeline where dewatering and materials handling occurs to create a high grade magnetite product.

Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Officer, Fiona Hick, joined Nyamal Traditional Custodians and representatives from Fortescue’s Iron Bridge Joint Venture partner, Formosa, in Port Hedland as the first shipment was loaded.

Hick said: “Today is a truly special day for Fortescue. Last week we celebrated 20 years since Fortescue was founded and, today, we celebrate our first shipment of high-grade magnetite product from our most complex and innovative project yet.

“Iron Bridge is a game changer for Fortescue and builds on our track record of safely and successfully developing and operating iron ore projects in the Pilbara.

“High grade magnetite product will play an important role in lowering emissions in the steel industry, and Fortescue is moving at pace to ensure we are at the forefront of developing green steel technologies.

“I congratulate the entire Fortescue team for delivering this project while maintaining strong safety performance. We remain focused now on achieving a safe and efficient ramp up.”

Iron Bridge is an Unincorporated Joint Venture between FMG Magnetite Pty Ltd (69%) and Formosa Steel IB Pty Ltd (31%).

At full capacity, Iron Bridge is expected to deliver 22 Mt/y of high grade 67% Fe magnetite concentrate.

Monadelphous wins A$150 million worth of work with Fortescue, BHP and Rio Tinto

Engineering company Monadelphous Group Limited says it has secured new contracts and contract extensions across the mining and metals space in Australia totalling approximately A$150 million ($102 million).

The company has been awarded a contract with Fortescue Metals Group for the supply and construction of an overland conveyor and transfer station at the Christmas Creek mine site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The scope of work, which includes civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works, commences immediately and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024.

In addition, Monadelphous has secured a two-year extension to its existing maintenance services contract at BHP’s Olympic Dam operations in South Australia. The scope of work includes mechanical and electrical maintenance, shutdown and project services.

Finally, the company has been awarded a two-year extension to its existing contract with Rio Tinto to continue providing mechanical, electrical and access maintenance services for fixed plant shutdowns at its Gove operations in the Northern Territory.

Liontown awards A$175 million Kathleen Valley lithium haulage contract to Qube

Liontown Resources has awarded the spodumene and direct shipping ore (DSO) haulage services contract for its Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia to integrated logistics solutions provider, Qube Holdings Limited.

Following what Liontown referred to as an extensive tender process, Qube has secured the five-year contract, which involves loading spodumene concentrate at Kathleen Valley; haulage of the concentrate to the Port of Geraldton; storage and stockpile management at the port and the outload to port infrastructure for shipment to Liontown customers. Storage will be in a dedicated facility within the Port of Geraldton.

Qube will use ultra-Quad road-trains to truck all concentrate from Kathleen Valley to the dedicated storage facility at the Port of Geraldton for the duration of the contract. Qube will use its 24/7 fleet monitoring centre in Perth to manage safety and environmental outcomes.

The contract is due to commence in mid-2024 in line with process plant ramp-up. Provision has been made for the services to be provided earlier for DSO as Liontown nears completion of offtake and processing options. As well as generating early revenue for Liontown, selling and shipping DSO will allow the company to trial the haulage logistics chain with lower grade material before first production is achieved from Kathleen Valley in mid-2024.

The concentrate haulage services contract, which is conditional upon Qube finalising arrangements to secure the storage facility at the Port of Geraldton, is valued at approximately A$175 million ($119 million) over the five-year contract term.

Qube has committed to the latest technology in driver and trucking safety as well as pursuing measurable carbon reduction initiatives as part of Liontown’s broader ESG commitments, working with the Kathleen Valley Tjiwarl Traditional Owners and exploring numerous revenue-generating opportunities with Tjiwarl businesses in the coming months, Liontown says. The contract will generate around 45 new positions and the Quad-trailers will be sourced in Western Australia.

Liontown’s Managing Director and CEO, Tony Ottaviano, said: “We look forward to working with Qube on the haulage and storage of our spodumene concentrate and DSO material from Kathleen Valley as well as benefiting from their expertise in the industry, especially with their extensive experience managing spodumene for others.

“This contract coupled with the Underground Mining Services (due this quarter) represents one of the last few outstanding contracts to be awarded as we progress Kathleen Valley towards first production mid-2024.”

Kathleen Valley is one of the world’s largest and highest-grade hard-rock lithium deposits and, with an initial 2.5 Mt/y production capacity, is expected to supply circa-500,000 t/y of 6% lithium oxide concentrate, according to the company.

MLG Oz makes contract inroads with Ora Banda, Gold Fields, Bellevue Gold

MLG Oz says it has been selected as the preferred supplier for the provision of haulage and site services at Ora Banda Mining’s Davyhurst site, in Western Australia, on top of receiving a letter of award from Gold Fields for the provision of construction works for the latest tailings storage facility project at the gold miner’s 50% owned Gruyere gold mine (pictured), also in Western Australia.

The company is currently finalising contract execution for a two-year extension, plus a one-year option, to its existing arrangements for the provision of services at Davyhurst. It would come with new commercial terms across the scope of works already being provided negotiated in line with current cost drivers and production expectations, with annual revenue subject to production and performance anticipated to be
approximately A$15 million/y ($10.2 million). This is subject to a contract being signed.

Ora Banda Mining owns an existing centralised 1.2 Mt/y processing hub, as well as additional established infrastructure at Davyhurst.

The letter of award with Gold Fields, meanwhile, is for the provision of construction works for the Gruyere Tailings Storage Facility Stage 4 (TSF) project at the gold mine, a joint venture between Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources. The award is still subject to the final negotiation of contract terms. The anticipated contract length is around eight months, with total revenue of approximately A$17 million subject to final terms and key milestones being achieved.

In addition to this new scope of works, MLG has also agreed to commence haulage services for Bellevue Gold from its open pit to Genesis’s Gwalia processing facility, also in Western Australia. The initial works are expected to commence this month and run for approximately three
months and contribute circa-A$4 million in revenue.

MLG founder, Managing Director and majority shareholder, Murray Leahy, said: “We are very pleased to be able to extend our relationship with Ora Banda Mining and to be able to continue to support their Davyhurst operation under mutually agreed terms. The extension of this contract and the award of the new contracts with Gold Fields and Bellevue Gold are evidence of our strong client relationships, and further demonstrate MLG’s broad capability both in terms of haulage and site services, but also in the support for our growing civil construction business.”

BHP Pilbara villages safety and accessibility upgrade complete

BHP says work is complete on its A$300 million ($200 million) investment to improve safety and accessibility for residents and guests at its Pilbara villages in Western Australia.

The accommodation safety and security upgrade project began in 2020 and was completed earlier this year by the WA Iron Ore Non-Process Infrastructure (NPI), Engineering and Asset Projects teams.

Kate Holling, WA Iron Ore NPI General Manager, said the initiative involved a significant amount of work by a big number of people, however the results were outstanding.

“In total, 10,756 rooms were upgraded across our 13 WAIO villages with more than 10,000 doors, 8,000 lights, 1,500 CCTV cameras and 4.75 km of fencing installed,” she said.

“The work was delivered using 100% Australian manufacturers and local contractors, including many Traditional Owner businesses.

“Safety continues to be our number one priority and I’m happy to see this work complete to make our villages feel safer and more accessible for everyone who visits them.”